The Universe, Dreaming
by celticfox
Summary: Parallel worlds reflect paths not taken. The Doctor and Martha are going to get to see some of these paths. TenMartha and a number of other Doctory ships.
1. Prologue

**This is just the prologue, and it's real short.**

**I know, I know, I should finish my other stuff soon, but at the moment I'm out of town (in Ireland in fact) and don't have access to my files, so I'm writing something new. This one, though, is finished, and I'll try to update at least once a day.**

**I totally own Doctor Who, my name is Russel T. Davies, and I wrote Last of the Time Lords. _I don't think so._**

**Oh yeah, and, just so you know, this is NOT a reunion fic. It's primarily Ten/Martha.**

"So then, well, we had to call in the heavy artillery to deal with all the giant bugs-"

"Of course," Martha teased.

"Well, yeah. But that one's not that interesting. It ends with my pretty young assistant- I called them assistants back then, can you imagine? jilting me for some younger, handsomer, more stylish bloke-"

"You seem pretty young and handsome and stylish to me," Martha interrupted, giggling even harder.

"Well, you should have seen what I wore back then-" He stopped, staring at her as her words finally sank in. "Martha Jones, I _like _you!" She grinned, her heart thumping painfully. He continued, oblivious, "-but I really should tell you about the time the Master," his voice hardly caught at all, and Martha silently applauded, "came up with this plot to take over the world using, guess what, inflatable plastic deckchairs."

"You're not serious," MArtha said, disbelievingly.

"Deadly. So were the chairs. Deadly, I mean. They ate people. But that's nothing compared to the time I blew up killer shop dummies, or when I got unexpectedly snogged by an attractive eighteenth-century French aristocrat, or went up against face-eating televisions, or the Chelonians, they're a joke all by themselves. 'Course, _Captain_ Jack could tell you much better stories. He told me an' Rose a couple you just wouldn't believe- they mostly involved him and a couple of other guys getting chased by vicious alien beasts in some remote location while stark naked. Seriously. We-"

There was a loud ringing noise and all the lights went out.

"-are in trouble," the Doctor finished. He jumped up and banged the console. Green lights flickered weakly, illuminating the Doctor's pale face.

"Aren't we always in trouble?" Martha asked. "Isn't trouble, like, our base state of existence?"

"Those were the Cloister bells," the Doctor said absentmindedly, "and the TARDIS won't respond to me. This is bad trouble, Martha."

"Is there any other sort?" she asked dryly, rolling her eyes.

Just then the central column started flashing and going up and down. "We're taking off?" she asked in alarm, looking for something to hold onto.

"I don't know, it doesn't seem like normal dematerialization," the Doctor murmured, looking up at the column with something like pleading in his eyes.

The column slowed, then stopped.

"Well," said Martha, letting go of the chairs, "that was the smoothest drive this machine's ever had. No turbulence whatsoever. I could do with more of that."

"It's not natural," the Doctor said flatly, not taking his eyes off what Martha thought of as the 'dashboard' but probably had some fancy alien name.

"Well," she said, pulling on her red jacket, "let's go see what's out there, yeah?"

The lights went off again.

"That's just fab. Now I can't see anything."

"Here, setting eleven on the ol' screwdriver."

There was a small blue light, and Martha could see the Doctor's wide eyes. She thought about making a crack about how she could stare at his face all day but she needed to see the door, but she decided against it. She wasn't sure how he'd react- her teasing hadn't gone that far yet.  
"Come on," she said, reaching for the door handle. She felt it, and pushed it open just as the Doctor shouted. Bright sunlight streamed in. She stepped outside.

She was standing on what looked like an ordinary English street, lined with houses and trees. "Well, that was a disappointment," she said. A cold breeze was blowing, and she shivered.

The Doctor stepped out next to her, wearing a curious expression on his face.

"What is it?" Martha asked.

"We're on a parallel world," he said. "I can feel it."

**Like it? Hate it? Feel like killing me with flaming sporks? Review or die!**


	2. What Could Have Been

**Next chapter, and I think it's a good one. Wrote it a minute ago at half past eleven at night.**

"Parallel world," she said. "Like, in the Golden Compass?"

His face scrunched up. "I hated that movie. The screenwriter ruined the books."

Martha shrugged. "Never read them. So, like that then? Where something went a bit different?"

"Yeah. Look, Martha, do you see any zeppelins in the sky?"

"No, why?"

"Never mind."

Martha started to walk down the street.

"Where are you going?" the Doctor called.

"Going to see if I can steal a newspaper!" she called back.

She went about halfway down the street, keeping an eye out for newspapers, before she turned back to look at the Doctor. He was still staring at the sky, a bemused expression on his face. "Oi! Keep up!" she yelled. He blinked, shook himself, and trotted down to meet her.

Martha went to the nearest recycling bin and lifted the lid. "What you doing?" the Doctor asked curiously.

"See if they threw out yesterday's paper," she said shortly.

He grinned. "Brilliant!"

"I know." She fished one out. "Two days ago, presuming they have the same calendar as us." She shook it out. "Prime Minister's still Harriet Jones... Fiasco: Downing Street was blown up by UNIT?"

"What?" the Doctor said. "That was me!"

"I should have guessed," she said, still reading. "England still recovering from the destruction of the 2005 Shop Dummy Massacre, thousands of casualties? What?"

"Whatever," he said. "Just enjoy it, Martha Jones! You're in a totally different universe!" Despite this, he looked uneasy and very much on edge.

"Maybe, in this world, Mum and Dad are still together," Martha mused. The Doctor stiffened in anxiety. "Nah," she continued, "not if they're still Mum and Dad." He relaxed.  
"Hey, look, there's someone throwing out the paper," she said, pointing. The Doctor looked. The Doctor stared. The Doctor ran like hell towards the tall, dark man tossing his paper in the bin along with an old cardboard box.

"Hello," he said breathlessly, "uh, I'm the Doctor, this is Martha."

"Um, hi," Martha said.

The man gave them a look that clearly said, Weirdos. Martha looked at him more closely. He had dark hair and appeared to be in his late middle age, but his most prominent features were his large nose and ears. He was wearing an old gray suit that didn't really suit him.

"And you are?" the Doctor asked.

The man looked at them again, and said briefly, "Smith. John Smith." Martha gave a start, then forced herself to calm down. A very common name, John Smith, she told herself. A little voice said, so how many do you know? It's so common it's uncommon.

"Mr. Smith," the Doctor said, "I was wondering if you'd seen a pocketwatch around here? A big old one? Only I've lost it, and it's something of a family heirloom, you see."

He gave them another hostile glare, then reached into his pocket and produced a pocketwatch.

Martha gasped.

It was very obviously the exact replica of the Doctor's fob watch.

"Got this one," he said. "It's mine, though. Had it for years."

"Doctor," Martha whispered, "he's a Time-"

"Shush." He turned back to the hostile man. "Smith, you got a nice job? Friends? A family?"

"Why should I tell you?"

Suddenly the door on the house behind them opened, and a little girl ran out. She had dark ringlets and a serious expression. She ran to Smith. "Daddy! Daddy!"

The man's face melted, the hostility gone in a flash. He picked the girl up in his arms. "Hey, Susie, what's wrong?"

She sniffed. "Fred's being mean again. He broke my doll. And Sarah won't let me play with her. She says I'm a baby."

"You? You're a big girl!" he said in mock surprise. "Why, I think Sarah needs her eyes checked!"

Susie giggled. "Yeah, she does," the little girl agreed.

"Well, Susan, you be a big girl and run and tell her _she's _the one being the baby. And you can tell Freddie I'll have strict words with him when I come inside."

She nodded. "Kay." Then she looked up at the Doctor. "You look funny," she said. Then she ran back inside.

Martha looked at the Doctor. There was a look on his face, as though it wanted to express his emotions but wasn't quite sure how to go about it. He stepped in front of John Smith. "Look, I'll give you two hundred dollars for that watch."

He shrugged. "It's broken, but whatever." He handed it over, and the Doctor paid up. "Now get off my property," he said, hardening.

"Right," said the Doctor, and walked straight back to the TARDIS, very fast. Martha had to run to keep up. The wind was blowing straight through her vest. "But he's a Time Lord!" she said incredulously.

"Yes," the Doctor said, "he is."

"But you're not the only one!"

They were at the familiar blue box. He fumbled with the lock. "Yes, I am."

"But what if he's just hiding from the Family? You took the watch! He'll never turn back now, he'll die a human!"

"Yes," the Doctor said, with undesguised satisfaction, "he will."

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	3. What Would Have Been

**Short chapter, on a much lighter tone. Rose/Ten fans, please don't lynch me.**

**Oh, and all those people who've read this and not reviewed... PREPARE TO BE SPORKED! (That includes you, Queen of the Jelly Babies!)**

The lights had come back on in the TARDIS. The Doctor looked at the console. "Please take us back, old girl," he said. "I'm really not interested in seeing my life played out in various interesting ways."

"Hang on," Martha said, "what-"

The column started moving again. "Thank you!" the Doctor said, beaming.

The column stopped.

The Doctor walked to the door and peeked around the other side.

"Looks like home all right," he said. Martha walked up next to him.

"Looks like the place we just left, too," she said.

The Doctor frowned. "And it feels like we're in yet another universe. Damn." He turned around to go back inside, when the doors slammed in their faces.

"I think she wants us here," Martha ventured timidly.

"She certainly does," the Doctor grumbled. "Well, come on then!" he shouted, and took off down a street that looked almost identical to the one they'd just left. There were a few minor differences, though. THe whole place looked richer, more prosperous. There were more trees lining the boulevard, more children playing in the streets. Martha ran to catch up. _Why does he always have to run off?_ she thought to herself.

She found him standing in someone's front yard, talking to yet another little girl. This one was plump and smug, with blonde ringlets. She also had a disconcertingly superior look in her eyes.

"So, your name's Sarah?"

"Yeah," she said. "My full name's Sarah Jane Smith."

"Riiight," the Doctor said slowly. "So your dad is, let me wager a guess, named John Smith?"

"Yeah," she said, and Martha realized she was sucking on a gumball. "But my name's not weird, not like Fred's."

The Doctor sighed, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Fred?"

"Yeah! What kind of a girl's name is Fred? And her full name is Romanadvoratrelundar. I mean, how messed up is that? She suits it, though. She's a little weirdo."

"Romadvoratrelundar," he repeated, a dazed look on his attractive face.

"Yeah, that's what I _said!_ What are you, stupid or something?"

"At the moment I'm feeling far too clever by half," he said. "And your mom's name?"

Sarah sucked on her gumball with a large slurping sound. "Her name's Rose," she said.

"Oookay," said the Doctor. "And now, let me ask you, your dad, does he look anything like me at all?"

Sarah scrutinized him closely. "Yeah," she said, "yeah, he does a bit. What are you then, his secret brother?"

"You've been watching too much TV," the Doctor said. "I'm actually his clone from a parallel universe."

She nodded. "Yeah."

"Oookay," said the Doctor, "I think I'll just be leaving now."

And they left.

Back in the TARDIS, Martha started to say, "Ro-"

The Doctor cut her off. "Never, ever, _ever_ mention that to anyone ever again," he shuddered. _"I don't do domestic!" _he screamed.

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